The collection consists of sermons, personal files, photographs, diaries, and appointment books. The sermons are largely from the 1940s-1960s. The sermon notes are in English, though some were transliterated into Japanese. The personal files include correspondence, church bulletins, baptism and marriage records from Idaho, family papers, passports, and clippings. Some correspondence, largely from 1942, concerns Shaver's work on behalf of Japanese held in U.S. detention centers. The photographs include eight albums and numerous loose pictures which have been placed in archival sleeves. The majority of the images are in black and white and were taken in Japan. Some were take at various locations in the United States. Photographic subjects include children, families, congregations, conference attendees, landscape/exterior views and the Shaver family. The printed matter/published works include books written about Japan and Christianity, the mission field, and sermons. There are also several Bibles, hymnals (some in Japanese), prayer calendars, and appointment books. The material that has been sent to the Preservation Dept. within Perkins Library includes photographs and certificates of achievement. The collection ranges in date from 1893-1982.

Access Restrictions

Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws before using this collection.

All or portions of this collection may be housed off-site in Duke University's Library Service Center. The library may require up to 48 hours to retrieve these materials for research use.

Please contact Research Services staff before visiting the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library to use this collection.

Use Restrictions

The copyright interests in this collection have not been transferred to Duke University. For more information, consult the copyright section of the Regulations and Procedures of the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library.

This series contains a sampling of Shaver's sermon notes, largely from the 1930s-1960s. The majority of the sermons notes are in English, although there are some that were transliterated into Japanese. Each folder contains multiple sermons, typically with a sermon index at the beginning of each folder. Sermon titles include
"On Holding Fast,"
"Search the Scriptures,"
"Three Crosses on Calvary,"
"Dare to be Different,"
and
"Christmas Then and Now."

This series includes correspondence (some of which pertains to Japanese held in U.S. detention centers during World War II), church bulletins, clippings, baptism and marriage records from Idaho, papers regarding the Anti-Alien Bill in Arizona, and family papers.

This series includes photograph albums and loose photographs (largely black and white) that document Shaver's time in Japan and to a lesser extent, Caldwell, Idaho. The majority are unidentified and undated, although the bulk appears to have been taken post-World War II, likely during the 1950s. Many of the shots are posed although there are a good number of candid shots throughout the collection. In addition to serving as a missionary to Japan, Shaver also worked briefly in Korea. Some of the images from the late 1930s could possibly be from there. There are also family photographs.

Photograph album, circa 1940s-1960s

Includes: images of conferences; church congregations; Greencastle, Indiana; Oita, Japan; the Shaver family; outdoor shots of Japan; Japanese orphans; Caldwell, Idaho; Camp Chickamauga; the 187th American Airborne Regimental Combat Team; photographs from the dedication of the American Airborne Memorial Children's Home (Eiko-en, 1952)

This series includes books written about Japan and Christainity, missions, sermons, as well as Bibles and hymnals. Handwritten notes can be found in most of the printed matter/published works. Some of the hymnals are in Japanese.

Includes: Panoramic image of California Street Community Church and its Japanese/Japanese-American congregants; panoramic image of an unidentified group of conference attendees, taken in Seattle, undated; Pan-Am certificate "Domain of Phoebus Apollo," given to Shaver after he crossed the International Dateline, dated 1954 Feb. 20; five documents written in Japanese; certificate naming Shaver an Elder of the Methodist Church, 1922 Aug. 29

Isaac Leroy Shaver was born in Rowan County, North Carolina in August 1893. He graduated from preparatory school at Rutherford College in 1915 and from Trinity College (now Duke University) in 1919. That same year, he married Pearl Tesh and soon thereafter, moved to Japan to begin work as a Methodist missionary. In 1924, he returned to Durham where he graduated with a master's degree from Duke University in 1925. Over the next several years, Shaver and his family moved between Japan and the United States, spending almost a year in Korea as well. During World War II, Shaver served as a Methodist minister to a Japanese community in Caldwell, Idaho and worked on behalf of Japanese held in U.S. detention centers. After the war, Shaver returned to Japan to continue his missionary work until returning to Idaho in 1959. He retired from his work as a pastor in 1969 and moved back to North Carolina with his wife. Shaver died in 1984.